Turkey has experienced several deadly earthquakes in recent years. A video shared on Facebook claims that a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the country in 2025. However, this is false: Turkey has had no earthquakes this year. AFP Fact Check also found that the video contains footage of a thunderstorm in Dubai in January 2023 and an altered image of a mosque in Gaza from the same year and month.
The video published on Facebook contains a text overlay reading “2025 Pray for Turkey” and “7.9 earthquake”.
The post has been shared more than 6,200 times since it was published on January 16, 2025.
screenshot of the false post, taken on January 23, 2025
The clip is a compilation of two sections of footage. The first shows people in front of buildings, with a man taking pictures on a cell phone while another kneels and holds up his hands in prayer. The second features a cloud in the shape of praying hands above a mosque.
Turkey is no stranger to devastating earthquakes.
In February 2023, 45,000 people were killed in Turkey and Syria when an earthquake measuring 7.8 struck a border region between the two countries (archived here and here).
Further tremors followed a month later.
However, the claim that an earthquake of similar size rocked Turkey again in 2025 is false. Furthermore, the footage included in the viral post is unrelated to disasters in the country.
Dubai Zam Zam Tower
AFP Fact Check used the verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.
The search results revealed the clip comprises two different segments of footage.
The first part showing a man praying outside a large building with tinted windows comes from a 17-second TikTok video posted in January 2023 (archived here). There is no mention of the location in the caption, however.
The footage shows people running to escape what appears to be a large storm approaching. Three seconds from this video were used in the clip falsely linked to Turkey.
To determine the location, AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches for the building and found similar photos on iStock photo, which identifies the structure as the Zam Zam Tower in Dubai (archived here).
Screenshot of ZamZam tower by iStock photo, taken on January 28, 2025
We confirmed these details by searching on Google Maps (archived here).
The white tiles on the concourse in front of the building and the tinted windows are just two elements common to the clip in the false post, the TikTok video and the imagery on Google Maps.
Heavy rain, accompanied by thunder, was reported in Dubai in January 2023 when the footage was likely recorded and posted online (archived here).
Altered footage
Reverse image search results revealed that the second segment of footage in the false post was also published on TikTok in January 2023 by a user called “myuz_gaza1” (archived here).
It purportedly shows people screaming at a purported cloud formation shaped like hands in prayer hovering above a mosque.
Using a screenshot from the video, AFP Fact Check found a similar photo of the mosque on Alamy stock photos (archived here).
Screenshot of Alamy’s photo, taken on January 28, 2025
The description accompanying the photo indicates it is Al-Hassaina mosque in Gaza. We located the mosque on Google Maps, which shows the entire compound in January 2023, before the war in Gaza reduced much of the enclave to rubble (archived here).
Although the camera angles are different, the video footage and the pictures on Google Maps shows the mosque’s distinct minarets.
Screenshots of the Al-hassina mosque’s Google Maps location (left) and the false footage, taken on January 23, 2025
The “myuz_gaza1” TikTok account features countless videos using the same audio of people screaming at clouds purportedly formed in shapes resembling angels and other religious symbols (archived here).
Among them is the same clip featured in the false post, but without a textbox claiming Turkey had been struck by an earthquake in 2025 (archived here).
An online search for the keywords “earthquake in Turkey in 2025” yielded no media reports.
